1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to storage systems and, more particularly, to a cart designed to house and store portable computing devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Portable computing devices, such as laptop computers, tablet computers, iPads™, iPods™, and other computing devices are commonly used in educational facilities to enrich the curriculum provided to students. Likewise, these types of devices are increasingly being used in other contexts, such as in museums, to enable people to interact with the exhibits present in the museum.
Portable computing devices typically include a battery that may be charged to enable the portable computing devices to be used while not connected to an electrical outlet. An electrical adapter is used to convert 120/240 volt 60/50 Hz AC electrical power available in a standard electrical outlet to a lower voltage (e.g. 19.5 volt or 24 volt) DC power which is then input to the portable computing devices to charge its battery. Computer carts have been developed which may be used to store portable computing devices in a secure manner. Often, the portable computing devices will be electrically connected within the cart to enable the portable computing devices to be charged and synchronized while stored in the cart.
To make it easy to remove portable computing devices from the computer cart and to return the portable computing devices to the cart, it is common for these electrical adapters to be stored in the cart so that the user is only required to manipulate the portable computing device itself. For example, if the computer cart includes individual storage bays, an electrical lead from a corresponding electrical adapter may be fed through into the individual storage bay so that it is easy for the computer to be plugged into an electrical adapter to be charged while stored within the cart. The charging cable is connected to the electrical adapter which is plugged into a power source within the cart so that the computers can be charged without requiring the computer users to have access to the electrical adapters.
Configuring a cart in this manner provides the users with easy access to computers, but requires significant labor to wire the cart. For example, if the cart is designed to hold 30 computers, a technician will need to install 30 electrical adapters and feed 30 connecter cables through and into the area of the cart where the computers will be stored. If one of the electrical adapters then fails, the technician will need to isolate the electrical adapter to determine which one of the adapters should be replaced. Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide a new type of computer cart with improved assembly and maintenance capabilities.